Rabbit overgrooming mate’s eye! Help!

[bree_bun]

Hi everyone!

So today has been a long day. This morning I did my normal routine of cleaning my bun room. I have a bonded pair who have been together for a little over one year. Penelope is a spayed female and is the momma of  London who is a neutered male. They’ve been together since London was born. They have been inseparable since he was born. They have never had any aggression toward each other. Penelope tends to be more dominant.

Well today when I went upstairs to get their veggies and came back down I opened the door to find chunks of hair everywhere! Penelope was chasing London around the room. London was scared out of his mind and hid in the corner pushed tight to the ground. I noticed his eye was red and irritated. I thought maybe he got hay in his eye trying to escape her. She was continuously trying to chase him all afternoon so I put up an exer pen and put London in it so he could get some peace. Couple hours later I let them out together and they were fine for a while then Penelope started to groom London’s eye – which just started last week and he freaked out running away from her and she chase him. His eye is now sore looking and red  I think she is overgrooming him and he just can’t take the pain anymore. I didn’t notice it getting red til today. Why is she doing this to him? She chases him down when he won’t let her. I feel so bad for him. Now she is pretty much just chasing him in general. He doesn’t want to go near her. I’m going to call the vet tomorrow morning. I seperated them tonight. He is in an exer pen in the same room while she has free range of the room. His eye is just way too sore looking and I don’t want it to get worse. Is this a normal behavior? How do I stop it?

– Briana

[LBJ10]

Are you sure there is nothing wrong with his eye to begin with? A scratch? Irritation? She could be trying to “fix” it.

[NewBunnyOwner123]

Or maybe there is a piece if hay or something stuck under the lid and when she licks his eye it irritates it even worse.

[bree_bun]

I looked at his eye pretty good. I pulled back the lid and there isn’t any hay or debris in it. It seems to be calming down now. No scratches on it… The irritation didn’t start until today. I’m going to bring him into the vet to make sure there isn’t some underlying issue.

[Author]

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